Convicted terror planner Aldawsari seeks acquittal

Attorneys for convicted would-be terrorist Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari filed a series of motions late Wednesday, seeking to acquit the former college student from Saudi Arabia or force a new trial.

The motion to acquit Aldawsari outright contends the prosecution never proved the former Texas Tech University and South Plains College student had moved from preparation to taking the “substantial step” federal criminal laws required to convict Aldawsari of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The second motion offers several arguments for a new trial:

■ Prosecutors made misstatements in closing arguments that could have unduly prejudiced the jury.

■ The jury instructions incorrectly explained the law on an attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

■ A comment Judge Donald E. Walter made while reading the instructions to the jury might have been an incorrect interpretation of the instruction, and caused the jury to overlook an issue critical to Aldawsari’s defense.

Last month, a jury in Amarillo convicted Aldawsari of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

He was arrested in Lubbock in February 2011 after federal investigators found most of the chemicals needed to make an explosive in his Overton Park apartment along with laboratory equipment, jihadi-produced training videos for making chemical explosives and other items that could be used to make bombs.

Preparation, not intent

In the motion for acquittal, defense attorneys Dan Cogdell, Paul Doyle and Dennis Hester argue prosecutors never proved Aldawsari took the “substantial step” federal criminal laws require to convict him of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The defense team said prosecutors “put on a lot of evidence of ‘intent’ but nothing that established an attempt. Rather, all of Aldawsari’s actions were mere preparation.”

Defense attorneys said the Aldawsari evidence didn’t come close to meeting the “substantial step” standard as established in other cases. In those cases, the defendants had agreed on targets and in one case had acquired explosives. In the other, the defendant only needed to find money to buy explosives.

“Aldawsari had no specific target and did not even have all the elements needed for the explosives — never mind the explosives themselves,” the defense motion states.

Inflammatory statements

The motion for new trial argues the prosecution’s summation included statements calculated to inappropriately inflame jurors’ emotions, including:

■ A comment that Aldawsari began planning to attack the United States when he was 11 years old.

■ An assertion that Aldawsari’s computer contained no instructional files on creating video games, when it actually had at least 19 such files.

■ Speculation about how dangerous Aldawsari would be in the future if he were acquitted and deported to Saudi Arabia rather than convicted.

Instructions for jury

The defense also argued Walter misstated the law in the jury instructions when he said “some preparations, when taken together with intent, may amount to an attempt” to commit a crime.

The motion cites several cases that suggest the jury is supposed to view the defendant’s intent and actions separately, and, in this case, the defense argued Aldawsari’s efforts to acquire materials amounted to preparation — not enough to satisfy the “substantial step” requirement in the law.

Reading error

Walter had already rejected an oral motion for mistrial when Cogdell objected to a comment the judge made while reading the definition of a weapon of mass destruction to the jury.

The paragraph Walter read refers in part to creating a launching weapon with a muzzle bore greater than half an inch in diameter and ended with “and any combination of parts intended for the use of converting any device into a destructive device may be readily assembled.”

Walter then said: “That really has no application here.”

In court, Cogdell asked for a mistrial, saying Walter had cut out a large element of the defense by saying that portion of the law didn’t apply.

Cogdell explained part of the defense relied on the “readily assembled” language in that part of the law; Because Aldawsari hadn’t acquired the phenol for the picric acid explosive or the chemicals for the detonator, Cogdell said, a bomb couldn’t be readily assembled.

Walter told Cogdell he thought that portion of the law “really deals with pistol bores.”

Sentencing timetable

■ No date has been set for Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari’s sentencing in federal court in Amarillo, but court documents indicate it could come as early as Sept. 11.

■ The U.S. Probation Office, which handles presentencing reports for the federal court, is supposed to complete its initial report by Aug. 21. Both sides have until Sept. 4 to accept or object to the findings.

■ If both sides accept the recommendation, sentencing will be as early as Sept. 11.

■ If either side objects, the probation office must prepare an addendum by Sept. 11, and both sides have a week to respond to that. In that case, sentencing will be Oct. 9.

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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
"The constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness, you have to catch it yourself." BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Americans? Or Jihadists themselves?
I understand doing their collective jobs, but I wonder how they can sleep at night. This guy being From Saudi, just sending him home would be a travesty to our country by telling the potential Jihadists that if they get caught they will get a free ticket back to the motherland. My motherland is Texas and I feel strongly that we should protect it by any means necessary. What if he was able to indeed strike Texas Tech or any other heavily populated place? We caught this "piece" just in time! IMHO